Suomi NPP: VIIRS true color imagery
Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image
After the Suomi NPP satellite had experienced an anomaly and gone into a sun-pointing “safe mode” on 24 March, all the satellite instruments began to successfully recover by 26 March 2012. Shown above is a 750-meter resolution true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image from the VIIRS instrument, acquired via the Direct Broadcast ground station at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (image courtesy of Liam Gumley, SSEC). A number of interesting features can be seen in the image, including (1) the break-up of ice in Hudson Bay and James Bay in Canada, (2) smoke plumes from fires burning across parts of the southeastern US, and (3) the outflow of sediment-rich water from the mouth of the Mississippi River (and other rivers) into the Gulf of Mexico.